Over N$25 million for wildlife protection

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WINDHOEK - The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has from 2016 to date received N$25,6 million from the Game Products Trust Fund for wildlife protection, management, anti-poaching, wildlife research, studies and surveys.

Conservancies and rural communities were the second biggest recipients of funding from the fund with N$6.4 million for the development and protection of water infrastructure and the support for human and wildlife conflict mitigation.

This information is contained in the Game Products Trust Fund annual report for 2016-2018 financial years.
The fund is a mechanism to ensure revenue realised from the sale of wildlife products is used for wildlife conservation, communal conservation and rural development programmes aimed at harmonising the co-existence of human and wildlife, and thus securing a future for wildlife outside of and within protected areas in Namibia.

Further, the fund received over N$29 million from its traditional sources of funding during the period April 2016 to February 2018.

These sources include heavy levy, problem animals, trophy hunting concession, grants or donations, lease of elephants and interest received from investment.

The report indicates trophy hunting concessions has been important sources of income for the fund with close to 90 percent of the income coming from trophy hunting concessions between 2016 and 2018.

The trophy hunting concessions were received from existing hunting concessions worth N$16.7 million and the sale of hunts at the Dallas Safari Club Convention in the United States of America with a total value of N$8.3 million.
The same report indicated the total project funding or grants agreed by the board for the period spanning April 2016 to February 2018 amounted to N$35.3 million.

“The fund continues to make considerable contributions towards wildlife protection and management. This is evident from the total value of grants that were approved and disbursed for the purposes of protecting and managing wildlife,” it stated.
During the same period, the fund financed a total of 37 projects related to human wildlife conflicts, the human wildlife conflict self-reliance scheme, anti-poaching activities and grants for wildlife management and protection.
These projects and grants were delivered through communal conservancies and rural communities, NGOs and the environment ministry.

The board of the fund noted even though they are aware of their perennial challenges of dwindling revenues, increased poaching, increased incidences of human-wildlife conflicts due to factors related to the lack of water, the growth in wildlife and human populations, they believe there is every prospect of success in the year ahead.